Gobi is, without question, the ultimate salesman. He'll sell you your own clothes and charge you for wearing them. He'll have you sign a lifetime contract to pay him for every breath you take, and you'll do with it a smile. Gobi is so good he'd do a deal with the devil and leave the devil looking for a loan.
The guy can sell things is what I'm getting at.
Here's all we know about the fish with the golden scales:
He is a piece of almost every one of Karn's Fusions, but his combat effectiveness as an individual is embarrassing. He learns four spells before level 18, but can only use them underwater. His leveling speed is the slowest in the game next to Ox, and his stats are abysmal.
In combat, he can't attack multiple enemies, can't attack at range, and can't survive long enough to tank on the front lines. His only use is an item thrower, and even that is impacted by his poor speed.
Gobi sucks. Really sucks.
His usefulness on the main map screen is also dubious at best. After a lengthy series of events including a dungeon, a solo mission on the sea floor, and losing all of you cash, Gobi finally gets the ability to turn into a giant fish restored after having lost it prior to meeting you.
That sounds useful, but, like everything else about this guy, is about as useful as a fish out of water. He can only change on water, and Nina gets her bird form very soon after he gets his fish form. It's really only used to get to a couple of places, but you can also break sequence by exploring around some and risking getting your ass handed to you on some island in the middle of nowhere.
His equipment is trash, his spells are only used under water and even then are damn near useless, and he levels so slowly he gets outpaced by everyone. You'll have an entire party maxed out and Gobi will still be 10 levels behind. I've seen it, it sucks.
Some folks will apologize for him by talking up his flea market skill, but that is trash too. He can only sell in two places, and even then only sells stuff from your inventory that you can sell much faster at any other shop anywhere. Yes, he can buy some rare stuff, but the odds are so bad you have a better chance of getting mauled by a bear who is getting struck by lightning at the same time as you find out you have hit the Powerball jackpot and won on your monthly scratch ticket.
This guy is... Look, I dunno how he conned his way onto the team, but he does, and he ends up doing fuck all for the rest of the game after getting you a diving helmet. What a waste of a character slot. It's times like this that I wish Capcom had been better versed in the art of making RPG's and would have simply made Gobi a temporary NPC. It's not like they don't know how, they did it three times in the Nina recruitment quest chain.
Gobi is a poorly executed character who only serves as Fusion fodder and a somewhat useful damage sponge in late game boss fights, if he isn't fused with Bo into Shin.
Next time we'll get to know Ox, who is at least somewhat useful. Also, gigantic. He's massive, and it makes no sense, in that same way that certain herbivores are gigantic for no reason.
See you then.